[Update: April 20] The hearing scheduled for Thursday evening’s school board meeting is set to be postponed due to a health issue of a board member.
Malibu citizens will have a chance to listen and be heard while the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Board discusses the financial ramifications of unification at its upcoming board meeting on Thursday, April 20.
This is the first time SMMUSD Board of Education officials will publicly discuss their position on the Malibu Unification Negotiations Committee report. There is a question mark as to whether or not the SMMUSD Board will accept the report as-is, or if the board has any concerns that will cause the report to be sent back to the negotiations committee for changes.
Susan Kushner, a long time Malibu resident and parent, feels that separation will improve the situation within the Malibu schools and specifically for children with special needs.
“The time has come for Malibu to be independent and detach from the overly bureaucratic SMMUSD,” said Kushner. “Then Malibu may directly address the needs of Malibu students with particular attention paid to the needs of special ed students.”
In case you are just tuning in, Malibu has been trying to form a Malibu Unified School District. After more than a year of effort and over 40 meetings with committee members and consultants, the negotiations committee presented its final report to the SMMUSD Board on March 7, and summarized the terms of an agreement for the potential separation. The negotiations committee report was approved by the Malibu City Council on March 27, and now all eyes are on the SMMUSD Board as they consider the proposed terms of the reorganization.
According to the Malibu City website section that covers the potential Malibu Unified School District issue, the position of Malibu residents is that “they are not being adequately represented in the SMMUSD Board,” and there are also “disagreements with how the district-wide funding is raised, approved, and allocated.” These are just a few of the reasons that residents cite in favor of separation.
Laura Zahn Rosenthal, a Malibu City Council member and member of the negotiations committee, underscored her belief that unification will be good for Malibu students.
“I believe that students in both communities will benefit,” Rosenthal said. “Malibu students will benefit by having their schools reflect their community and directed by people who actually live in the Malibu part of the district. Local control is a good thing.”
Rosenthal envisioned a gain for Santa Monica students as well.
“Santa Monica students will benefit by allowing their board to concentrate on Santa Monica issues and not be distracted by Malibu,” said Rosenthal.
Rosenthal emphasized that a lot of effort went into crafting a balanced agreement.
“We worked very hard on all areas of the report for over a year and feel that we came to an agreement that works for both communities,” Rosenthal said.
Gail Pinsker, the SMMUSD community and public relations officer, acknowledged there are concerns that need to be resolved on all sides.
“District leadership has not taken a position on this issue at this time and awaiting guidance from the SMMUSD Board,” Pinsker said. “We understand that the Malibu community and Malibu City Council are very supportive of unification and anxious to move forward with the process. The key objective for the board is to make sure that a stand-alone Santa Monica USD does not face adverse financial affects by separating.”
Lee LaPlante, a Malibu resident and parent, predicted that separation will improve the system all the way around.
“This is one thousand percent an incredibly great thing for Malibu schools and students,” said LaPlante.
The SMMUSD Board meeting is this Thursday, April 20, and open to the public at 5:30 p.m. It will be held in the Board Room of District Administrative Offices: 1651 16th Street, Santa Monica, Calif. The Malibu Unification Negotiations Committee urges citizens and other interested parties to attend the meeting to hear what the SMMUSD Board of Education has to say, and to show strong support from the Malibu community.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a new quote.